Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Chip and a Chair

I went to the Fitz 100+10 game last night and there was as big a crowd at this as I can remember. 8 full tables, due in part to the fact that the PokerEvents thing in the Red Cow was not on last night for some reason.

Before the break I didn't see a single pair, and no A better than ATo. It was hard to pick up any chips with those but the few pots I did play and bluffed at when it was checked around to me on the flop I won. The advantage of being a rock I guess. At the break not much had happened and I had 5100 from a starting stack of 4k, not great, but just about playable.

After the break things improved a bit, I won a couple of pots preflop, took out a very shortstacked player from my BB and then this happened.

Dealt TT in the SB. Folded around to the cutoff who called (BB 600). Button, very LAG made it 2200. I pushed instantly from the SB (6800 total) as I knew I was ahead of a large percentage of his range. I would have been happy to pick up the pot there but was also happy to take my chances with TT against most of his likely holdings which I figured as any pair, any suited A, any 2 face broadways.

BB folds and cutoff thinks for a while. At this point the button says to the cutoff 'It'd be great if you called cause then I wouldn't have to'. Whether he viewed this as an enticement to call or whatever, the cutoff folded. Button then moans, groans, says he wished he didn't raise so much, and then calls under apparant discomfort (he had 100 less than me so I have change). He flips over 33 and happy days I am 80-20 to more than double up to 14700. Flop comes A high, no danger to me. Turn is the dreaded 3 and river no help to me. Chip and a chair time.

I go all in next hand on the blind from the button for my last 100 and triple up to 300 when my blind TT (ironically) wins the centre pot. I was a couple of hands before throwing in my 300 with A8s which wins vs QQ when A comes on the flop to quadruple me up to 1200. A couple of hands later I throw my money (2 BB's now!!!) with Q9o and against the 2 blinds the flop reads QTJ (2 spades). SB goes all in and BB calls. SB shows A7o and BB shows 93o ?????? Mad. Turn is J, river 9, I triple up to 3600 and SB knocked out on the river by BB. Game on. Or not. Cards turn to jelly then, blinds go up, I eventually went all in blind from BB with 800 of my 2400 in the pot and lost with 52s vs TT. They joined to the last 2 tables when I left.

Perhaps I should have been more aggressive when I had tripled up to 3600 and tried to pick up a couple more blinds on the steal. If I had been called though I would have been big underdog, and there were raises most hands into me so unopened pots were rare. Ah well. If, but, maybe. None of them any good to me. I was reasonably happy with the way I played but hopefully my luck and the cards are waiting for the end of month game on Thursday to come good.

I Michael McDowell follows through and is successful in his threats to get all casino type establishments closed down I will not be a happy bunny. To me it will be like getting sacked from my job with no hope of finding another one in this country. It will be like the dark days of emigration when people were forced to look overseas for a job. Except I wouldn't emigrate. i'd just complain, work my 'day job' and play more online.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Small break from the fray

One days poker in 7 is about as much of a break as I take these days, but last night I went down to the Fitz to play the stress free €20 rebuy tournament but I never got to play in it. Instead when i went in i decided to play a €110 freezeout satellite for a €550 satellite for the €5k game. There were 10 players and 2 tickets, and it was going ok for the first hour, I had won a good few small pots but no big ones. The end came for me when I had AK and the board came AJ8 only for me to run into a caller with JJ. Ah well. Played cash game and finished the night dead level after some to-ing and fro-ing up and down, so at least got my tournie entry back.

The how of the above is not really important though now. A couple of items I would like to mention are related to my tournament play. There are certain situations I have problems playing, and I will try to explain those here.

Firstly, the situation where I flop 2 pair with a holding such as AT on a 99T board. Invariably when this happens I cannot stop myself putting out a bet. When I get a caller there are three things that go through my head:

1. Does he have a 9?
2. Does he have similiar to me?
3. Is he calling intending to pick off the pot on the turn despite his own holding?

A lot of the way I treat this delends on what type of player I am playing against. Some players just will not do option 3. A lot of other players will not just flat call with a 9, they will raise outright. I seem to misplay this hand a lot by betting the flop, even out of position and then passively checking on the flop, and allowing it to be taken from me. I think the problem here is that it is rare that i am playing in a deep stacked tournament often enough that will allow me to bet the flop, and bet the turn again unsure where I am still. This is a hand that is much better played in position, as to be honest, most hands are, but when you are not sure whether you are ahead or not, the last thing you want is to build a pot that you are never convinced you will stand a raise on.

This should be basic stuff to most people, but I am struggling to come up with a reliable line on this type of holding OOP as a lot of the time a follow up bet will commit you to the pot in most of the regular tournaments I play in. this is another aspect of my game that I have to work on in tournament play. The first step as they say in AA (apparantly) is admitting you have a problem.

It is amazing that the more you play this game the more you realise that you don't know about it. 12 months ago I would have had a higher opinion of my game than I do now, but that is not saying I was better then, I wasn't - I just didn't know how much I didn't know. Sounds a bit Donald Rumsfeld, but you get the message. I think I am a decent tournament player. I know the ABC, and maybe this is what I revert to too often to be truly an effective player. When I feel myself playing well it is when I am mixing it up, playing a lot of hands aggressively and winning most of them. This is not a strategy that I employ often enough, and at times I will not feel able to do this at a table, whether it is due to the other players and who they are, or whether it is because it is I do not have enough chips to effectively do this. I do this more often at the multi rebuy lower stakes tournaments. This is probably due to a few things:

1. The generally lower standard of player (not a universal though by any means)
2. The safety net of multi rebuys.
3. Being less gutted if I crash out due to less potential winnings.

The above is not meant to imply that I play 'scared' at few rebuy or bigger buy in events/freezeouts, as that would not be true. I have not played a lot of big tournaments, none with a buy in of more than €500 (excepting reg fee) and about 18 between €250-€500 entry, but only cashing in 4 of these with no "big" finish - yet. I play tighter in these events generally but I still pick my spots when I can, especially in position. I think more and more of my 'play dilemmas' will involve playing hands out of position. It is hard to find a generic position on these type of hands though, as each one depends on all the usual factors.

This was just a series of general ramblings and there are one or two other things that I meant to write about but between trying to write this and trying to work, and trying to stay awake I cannot remember what they were. Early night for me tonight, and will probably play the Fitz Double chance tomorrow night.

One other thing I will probably be doing this week is having a session with a mate of mine online, analysing each others online play and seeing where we disagree and each can improve. The day I think I have it all learnt will either be the day I quit, or the day i win the WSOP main event, and I think everyone reading this knows which one is a tad more likely.

Happy flopping to ye all (I am being optimistic with the plural I know, but hey...)

Friday, April 21, 2006

Another visit to the SE

Went to the SE 75+5 on Wednesday night. There were only 28 runners and there were only about 10 people I knew there, but none that I knew very well.

Started off brilliantly with AA in the first hand and Declan Fagan who was sitting to my left obliged with a raise which I flat call and and he bet/bluffed the flop only for me to raise and him to fold instantly. It was kinda going average by the break. I lost my first set of chips when my top pair got rivered by a flush, and then I doubled up with JJ vs TT which I nearly threw away when reraised all in preflop by a very aggressive player, but I had 400 out of my last 2k in there so if I was behind then so be it, I'd go home. The break came and I had 3400.

After the break I was moved table and Gholimoli from boards was scooping pots at a mad rate and knocked 3 players out in about 8 hands, once with a great read and call, and the other times with good cards too.

The standard in general at this table though was woeful. I can barely beleive some of the play, such as when I was called on a board of 2,3,5,6,3 when I turn bet it. 2 callers. I checked the river as I was sure there was a 5 in one of their hands and I was OOP. The winner? A2o. Another hand I was called by bottom pair again, and I won that time. Another hand I bet the J84r flop, a decent bet, was called and I checked it down when trun/river came Q/J with my 89 holding and my opponent had called the flop bet with Q9o and then checked the turn and river. Amazing play really. Anyways, I made the final table fairly shortstacked and then on the FT things turned around a bit. First with KJs I moved allin and was called by Gholi with 88. I hit a straight on the river to win that, and I think next hand I knocked him out with A6 vs 55 (he was fairly shortstacked, and I was BB and called). There was some shocking play at the FT too but I couldn't really take advantage of it and finished in 3rd for €310. Not too bad, but not what I was really hoping for either. Ah well. I have 3 Ft appearances from 5 visits to the SE. I may start going more regularly than I have been on Weds/Thurs esp when the midweek football starts.

This weekend I will be on a poker break since I will be at home, and won't play til either Sunday or Monday night. The Fitz end of month is on next week too so hopefully I will get a good run in that again soon as it has been a while since I got a touch there. I might even defend my 'Blind Omaha' champion status beforehand.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

More stuff

Short post coming up here. Went down Sunday, played ok in the 20 rebuy game, no good though. Played cash, no good though. Same nuts changed when his improvers came into play in a 650 pot so I went home.

On Monday night I played the second World Cup of Poker qualifier on Stars. There were only 19 people in it so win 4 heads up matches and I was on the team. Mad, and for only 50 FPP too!!!!

Unfortunately I only won one match and in short order lost my second one after believing that my opponent would call bets on every streeet including preflop without having hit something decent which I knew he didn't. Instead he called me with bottom pair terrible kicker which beat my bluff. Ah well, pity it wasn't 2/3.

I watched the Irish Open final last night and was amazed by the standard of most of the players. Just goes to show how much luck plays a part. Jon Wong was the guy I wanted to win it cause he seemed to have a good feel for what was going on, just couldn't pick up a premium hand, and any time he had a decent one someone else had a better one and he made the right laydowns.

A few days off from live poker now, may play a bit online. I am in a weekly final to a monthly qualifier for the WSOP next weekend on Sportingbet, so by Sunday evening I may have qualified for $6. Just a bit unlikely though but I can dream.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

About time, and oh so close........

Last night I decided to forego the usual Saturday night drinks and play the round of each tournament instead. This is a tournament that I swore not to play again, but of course this only lasted about 2 months. There ere about 35 runners and before the break I was calling blind, raising blind and so on, and usually found monsters when I looked at my cards!!!

By the break, despite my best efforts I had no rebuys and about 7.5k including topup. After the break I played properly but couldn't increase my stack, it was win one, lose one. Then I decided to move allin on my BB if there were no raises, and I duly did and showed 35s when all folded. I think this helped me get callers on my next 2 monster Omaha hands so plan worked and I moved upt oone of the CL's. When the FT started I was the CL but not that much in it. Vernon got busy early on and knocked out 3 players to get a big chip lead, but then he pissed it all away to me thankfully when he called with second pair in a holdem hand to my weak top pair, and when he called my all in with a lower straight in Omaha when I had the nuts. I had the chance to knock out the 2 remaining other players in one fell swoop but I passed the winning hand when really I should have played as I had so many chips. When it got down to 2 I was bout 3-1 chiplead but when Alex suggested that we make it 700-500 instead of 800-400 I agreed and took the main chunk. Not a great prize but it'll do me.

Played the Omaha cash game then and a fairly uneventful night ended up with mr 50 down by closing time. There was a fair bit of needle in the game though which I wasn't too comfortable with as everyone knew each other, but there was no lasting damage, and due to the amount of swings created by dirty river cards I can understand it too.

The one controversial moment of the night came as follows:

Flop came Jc3c8h. All check.
Turn Tc. First Position allin for 35. Next to act and a few others folded.
River 9c. Snowy turns over KcQcxx fot he straight flush to the K. The allin drunk stranger turned over a straight. He had gone allin on a flush board with a straight!!! The bad thing here is that this made Neil fold his 7c8cxx which would have made a low striaght flush on the river. Snowy is adamant that he would have checked the turn for the bad beat with the pot small. The guy who had the straight tried to tell us that there were only 2 clubs when he bet, and when old there were 3 says 'ah sure, I didn't see them'. Muppet cost me and 6 others about 625 each, Snowy about 4250 and Neil abut 8500. Painful. Ah well, not much to be done for it. That is the nearest I have ever come to being on a bad beat table.

At least I still made about 600 profit last night, cancelled out Friday night.......

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Good Friday? Says who?

Not a great or even average Friday for me I am afraid. Played in the scalps tournament last night, with around 100 other brave souls. Before the break I was not involved in a lot of hands but won the last 2 to leave me with nearly 7k including topup after the break. Then instead of not being involved in many I got one of my legendary (with myself anyways) dry runs of cards, as opposed to Vinny 'Longlad' who came to the table and proceeded to go from 7900 to 35k in 3 hands in a row with QQ, KK and AK from the seat just to my right. Somehow I managed to make it to around 16th place, but didn't get the bit of luck I needed.

Cash game was bad too. Last hand of the night sums it up really. 25 in the pot on the flop. Flop comes AdJd2c. I have KJJ3. First to act bets 25, MP raises it to 100 immediately. The reason I knew I was ahead here is that MP would have reraised EP with any drawing hand or any 2 pair at all as they had clashed a few times and there was an element of 'I know you are at it' about the reraise. I had 125 left and went all in. Both players call so about 400 in the pot. Turn coms an A and I was sure that was me gone, and it was. MP turned over A2 with no other draws for top and bottom on the flop, and was fairly apologetic saying that he knew he was ahead of other guy etc etc. There you go. Bad night financially then. 110 + 500 in tournie and cash. Ah well, didnt make the magic 10 in a row cash game profit, but I can try and make it one in a row tonight.

I was going to go to the pub but I had decided that this weekend was for poker so I better stick to it. I might even play in the round of each game despite me swearing never to play it again the last time I was down. Too many people who don't know how to play Omaha frustrate me, and people never go away from a hand. Great if you hit the nuts though.........

Friday, April 14, 2006

Holy Thursday Batman!!

Went down to the Fitz last night for the €75 rebuy satellite for the sdpt (doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it?) There were only about 20 runners for a total of €2500. I was first out on the final table when my AQ hit a Q high flop and ran into KK. Ah well.

On to the caah games then and sat into a Hold'em game with €100 while waiting for the Omaha and folded every hand from CO until I was UTG when I saw AA. Made it the max of€7 and had only the 4 callers. Flop comes 664, I bet the pot (€35), got raised by LP and this being the Fitz almost expected to see a holding of 64 when I called, but he never showed and I won. Omaha was then called and I sat down to that with my €210 or so, got that up to about 400 in the first hand when I won a side pot and split the centre on a board of JT784r when I held KQ92. Happy days and good start.

I managed to win another big pot soon, with the money in on a flop of 884 when I held A983 (from BB despite a small raise). Turn was T, river 3 to fill my boat. Opponent never showed and left the table then. That had me up to around 750 and this turned out to be the high point of my night as the cards dried up dramatically for a very lean spell. I ended up leaving at 4.30 with €405 for a total profit for the night of €155 (€150 for buyin and topup in tournie and €100 in cash game).

Scalps now tonight, and more than likely more Omaha after that. I am now on a record 9 winning cash sessions in a row. Long may it continue........

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Funny Story, Bad Beats & from Bad to Good

All in a nights work. Was a weird night last night. Decided to go to the SE €75+5 dc game. The standard at my table for the most part amazed me by being decidedly bad. There were at least 3 bad players at my table, but of course by the time I had figured this out, one of them had got knocked out and I was a dc reload to the bad. This was only 10 mins in. To be honest though i didn't see any action with hands all night.

Pocket 99 in the sb the first hand, decided to limp, missed folded. Third hand got AA, 2 limpers at 25-50, I make it 275, everyone folds which as it turns out is most unlike this table. I played a couple of drawing hands weakly then as seems to be the norm lately, but I always seem to get these type of hands in the blinds so always oop. KK when shortstacked wasn't my saviour as noone looked me up, and J8s a few hands later definitely wasn't when I got 2 callers this time. Ah well.

It was 11.30 at this stage and in my head it made sense to go the Fitz for a cash game (no Omaha going on in SE). Outside the Fitz I seen a really strange and quite frankly baffling incident. I was chatting to someone when Red (Charlie McCreevy type character, regular in Fitz) comes outside and a guy who seemed to be well known but not for me, seems fit to tell him that Red (50 odd, hardly clad by Calvin Klein) has the nicest top that he has ever seen. Red then offers to sell it to him for a tenner and the other guy practically snaps his arm off in accepting. The exchange is done, both parties express their pleasure with the transaction, and just as I am going in I hear Red say 'If I freeze on the way home I'll sue you'. Mad.

Anyways onto the poker. I mentioned bad beats in the title and these come from the tournament. I wasn't involved in any of these. They all happened before the break.

KK beaten by KJ all in preflop
AA beaten by AQ all in preflop
JJ beaten by 99 all in preflop
KJ beaten by AK all in on a J high flop

I sat in the round of each game and seen one on the most horrible beats happening, and again I wasn't involved. 3 players to a flop, €75 in the pot. Flop is AsQh3h. Bet, allin, allin, call goes the action, about €1k between centre and sidepots.

Player 1 shows AhAxx (top set)
Player 2 shows Kh5hxx (nut flush draw with lone A out)
Player 3 shows AQxx (top two pair)

Turn Q, River Q. Sick for the AA.

Not much happened for me when I sat in the newly started round of each game. I sat down with 200, and rebought for 100 more when downto about 60. Up to about 250 when called to the Omaha only 50 game. There was no 100 game on last night so it was a curious mix of 100 game players and 50 games players. I was definitely at the lower end of the range stack wise at this stage but said I would see what the game was like. To be honest it wasn't the maddest game I have ever been at, I expected worse, especially when Andy Black came to the table and started raising and reraising every hand for a while preflop. There were about 4/5 100 game players there and stack sizes up to about 3k so plently of money and opportunities to get it in the pot.

An early hand I was dealt at this table seen me play 3345 from the BB for a modest raise to €5. Flop comes a lovely 36Jr. I bet the pot (€35), one caller. Turn is Q to complete the rainbow and I can't see how that would have helped and am fairly sure I am ahead as this player would have raised me in an instant if I was behind to a bigger set. I bet pot again (€100 for ease) and it is called instantly. River is A, and if she hit backdoor broadway then so be it, my last money was going in the pot. I had her covered by €30 so got change. What did she show down when I threw over my set of 3's?

A bloody A and crap crap. No draws, nothing, just the losy overpair which hit on the river. €500 pot gone south. Cheers. The look on Snowy's face (he was playing), and Daisy's shake of the head said it all. I was tempted at this stage to go but since I have been on a good run lately decided to just throw 100 more at the problem, making it a total of 400 for the night. Not ideal, but not too upsetting if I lost it.

Anyways, I know such a small stack at that table is not what I want to be doing, but I decide to play on for a while anyhow. I go for a drink of water etc to calm down, and not get tilty.

Get back to the table, win a couple of middling pots, one with a turned poker of 8's and I get my stack up to around 350. I hover between 3-400 for a while and 2 crucial hands happen. Well ok, the first one is not crucial to me but it annoyed my a wee bit. I decide to call a raise to €3 from the button with AdQd3c4c (terrible hand but there you go). Flop comes Ac8d6d. Early position bets pot (€15), Andy Black repots it for 60, and only me to act before original raiser. I was definitely calling the first raise, and when it is potted again I was tempted to. The thing that made me not call was that first raiser had only 125 total including his bet so I fully expect him to go allin. The problem with this was that it was a valid raise and Andy would have pushed lots more into it driving me out. Upshot, I folded. Original riaser elects only to call however (may have done differently if I played maybe??). Turn is Kc. If I had managed to still be in this hand I would have pushed with 2 flush draws, albeit only 4 high for one of them. More betting all in on this card, and river is 2c, and my backdoor flush draw would have been good. I know that I had no right to be there really with only a bare flush draw on the flop, but still annoyed me as I would have won €800 pot if original raiser had 115 instead of 125. Ah well.

Next crucial hand I call a raise to €45 preflop from LP with QQJ9 with hearts. Flop comes QJ7, 2 spades. Andy Black pots it (€225) and I push for €335 total. Turn is irrelevant as is river and I win a near €900 pot. Sweet. Andy leaves after this hand (not enough action I guess for him) and Scott Gray goes busto a few hands later as does another guy so the game is dying and I decide to leave with €875 in hand at 4.30am. €80 for tournament and €400 buy in still leaves me with a healthy €395 profit for the night. Considering where I was after herself caught the A on the river I will gladly take that.

Cash games are good to me lately. Last 8 I have played have been profitable for a total of €2820 in 25 days. I know this can't last but it doesn't stop me hoping that it last a while longer at least.

If I could translate that into tournament play as well then that would be brilliant, but I am not sure if it is a coincidence that my tournament play is dipping when my cash play is on the up? Maybe it is irrelevant since Omaha and Hold'em are very different in styles required. Maybe it is relevant since I am playing draws in Hold'em weakly which is my normal approach now (unless no one has an interest) in PLO, especially oop. It is something I will hopefully figure out soon.

Also, I believe Rumit Somaiya was at the Omaha cash game last night too. I will check against a picture of him later, as I can't check 'gambling' sites from work. It was definitely some English/Asian guy called Rumit and in the week of the Irish Open it seems like more than a coincidence. I may be wrong though.

For now adieu.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Setting the tone.....

Well everyone else is at it, so why not me? I have been playing poker since around September 2003 when I got invited to a home game by a colleague. Who knew where it would lead?

My current poker profile is something like the following:

Play online now and then, mostly PLO at .5/1 on PokerStars, and play some tournies too. I don't play online regularly enough to take it as seriously as I should. I have played 4000 PLO hands in about 10 weeks, and a few SNG's and a couple of tournies so that shows my 'level of commitment'.

My main poker playing is done in the Fitzwilliam Card Club in Dublin, hereafter known as 'The Fitz'. I play around 3/4 times a week which usually consists of a tournament followed by an Omaha cash game.

Things I would like this blog to achieve:
- Show off loads of bigs wins (I can dream)
- Open my general play to scrutiny by posting key hands/moves
- International superstardom

My 2006 so far has been characterised by a middling January, terrible February, stablising March, and good start to April. I have given myself a good talking to recently over my Omaha cash play in particular, and things I hope to eliminate from my game include:
- Betting single draw hands on the flop from EP
- Going mad with AAds hands preflop
- Drawing to non nut flush unless that is a back door hand
- Calling when I know in my heart of hearts that I am behind
- Bluffing most of the Fitz players. There are some that this work with, but too many are willing to call with 3rd nut hands. This is where money can be won and lost.

Hold'em tournament play improvement:
- I am probably regarded as a 'solid' player. Long term if I can get regarded as a 'good' player then this is my goal.
- Open up my range more in LP. I have been doing this lately with mixed success.
- Be less timid in higher buyin events. Fitz end of month game is a good example. I find myself quite passive during these games and this is not good.
- Think. Often the most obvious answer is the correct answer. Don't overthink gut instinct decisions. They can be right quite a lot of the time. This is often a result of some subconscious thing that you notice through time with players, not just a random 'feeling'. Don't trust this implicitly though.
- Improve shorthanded play late in tournaments.
- Confidence. I like to think that I am quite confident at the poker table. In most events that I play at I know most of the others at the table, and this helps in this respect. I find random players are more reluctant to take on a confident player who knows how to play.

There is a lot of bullshit in the above probably, and there will be more to follow in the posts that follow this. I will try to report on as many of the tournies/cash games I play that I can, at least until laziness overtakes me.

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